The Right Thing
by LostInLost18
Summary: Spoilers for 2x06 - Plan B. Damon changes his perspective on a lot of things as he is forced to do what he should've done a long time ago...be a good brother. "Tonight he knows what the right thing to do is, and he's going to do it - be a good brother."


**The Right Thing**

He's in the process of pouring himself a well earned drink when Stefan walks in, his eyes wide, bloodshot even. He notices the extra worry lines on his already overcrowded forehead, the raw emotion on his face, the look of anger and despair, and begins to worry. And worry isn't an emotion he can pull off, pretend or otherwise. It's not an emotion he particularly wants to pull off either. Worry, after, all is another one of those emotions associated with people who care and he, frankly, doesn't.

"What's up, bro? Bad day?" he asks, a low chuckle in his throat. "Yeah, being coated in vervain would do it…"

"Katherine got to Jenna," Stefan cuts in, irritation quickly settling in which, Damon finds, is an easier emotion to deal with. "She - She compelled her to spy on Elena and me, and found out we were only pretending to fight…"

"Like it wasn't obvious already. You two can't act to save your life," he can't help but remark, finding humour helps him deal with the unspeakable tension which seems to have been dragged into the room in the same sluggish manner as Stefan had.

"She compelled her to stab herself once she'd talked to Elena," Stefan finishes, his voice choked up. "She's in surgery now, I just talked to Elena."

The glass he's holding slips out of his hand and smashes onto the floor. In each piece, he can see his own distorted, furious expression and the anger only flares up inside him. To counterbalance it, however, he is hit with a strange concoction of guilt and shame, knowing it had been his rash act of murder, his deliberate stream of taunting words to Katherine, which had sparked this. She'd retaliated in a way which would cripple both brothers, which was to hurt Elena.

"Oh, God," he mutters, suddenly at a loss for words. "How's Elena doing?"

"Her aunt, her last connection to her parents besides Jeremy, is in _hospital_ with a _stab wound_ that our crazy _ex-girlfriend_, the woman you chose to_ unnecessarily provoke _caused. How do you _think_ she's doing?" Stefan snarls.

Damon's literally never seen Stefan like this before – angry, but completely drenched in despair and an equally lethal dosage of self loathing. He's seen him angry, riled up, irritated, saddened – all of which he knows he's been the cause of at some point during their lives – but never like this, where he literally could tear anything apart, and yet still ascertain enough humanity, enough morality, to feel like this is his entire fault. He admires his brother for finding that balance…though he'll never admit it.

"This is my fault," he admits quietly. "You're right – I screwed up. I just…"

They both hear the door open quietly, recognizing the hitched breathing of the girl they both held their hearts on the line for. He might be a first rate jerk ninety nine percent of the time, but he knows when to back down, when to remove himself out of the picture.

Still, he listens in, tortures himself by forcing himself to listen to her break down, and each note her voice breaks on is a more powerful reminder of what he's done than anything else. He hears her break his brother's heart…and feels his own beat weakly in return. _(At least it's a reminder, however bleak, that he has one.) _He watches Stefan crumble…and finds himself crumbling along with him. _(How can he watch the strongest person he knows crumble and not crumble along with him?)_

He watches her open the door and has to say something, has to make it better somehow, if only marginally.

"Elena." He murmurs her name, only because he can't say anything more.

She turns, and he almost reels back in shock at how devastated she looks. Her mascara runs down her face, and every inch of her screams _mess_, and yet she still is so incredibly beautiful. She seems to see past him, like her body is here but her mind has wandered somewhere.

It's the first time he realizes – or, rather, accepts – how perfect she and Stefan were together.

"I riled Katherine up," he confesses, walking forwards. "I wasn't thinking…I didn't _think._"

Maybe she holds so much hatred for him already that she can't hold any more, or maybe she's got other things on her mind, because she doesn't seem to react to it.

"It doesn't matter, Damon," she says monotonously. "She won." Her voice breaks, as a fresh set of tears bubbles behind her eyes. "Katherine won."

He's never felt so helpless and, as she closes the door behind her, he stands there and feels so drained. This is his fault, he realizes. Elena had called him on the fact he's psychotic, that he kills people without a second thought, that he is easily provoked and cares little for human life.

But he feels human around her, and he finally understands why his brother tries so hard to be human, to fight what he truly is, and forsake his own nature to be with her, to be around her.

She makes it all worth it.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, feeling so sick to the core of what he's done that no amount of liquor will be able to wash that away.

So, instead, he checks on his brother, who remains lifeless in the middle of the room, tears threatening, but never emerging, from the corners of his eyes. He looks so devastated, naturally, but it goes beyond that.

His brother looks so…lifeless, and, whilst normally he would've enjoyed the irony of that, it's sickening to see. He feels the anger bubbling inside him, the urge to kill frothing on top.

Katherine will pay, he silently vows.

But tonight's events have him questioning everything. Is it right to go after Katherine? What will happen if they fail? How many more lives are at stake? Who will she go after next?

He doesn't know what the right thing to do is anymore – generally, anyway.

Tonight, he knows what the right thing to do is, and he's going to do it. He's going to forsake the world, forsake his usual habit of drinking away his problems, forsake Elena, even, and be what he hasn't been in over a century.

A good brother.

So, he steers Stefan towards the couch, pours him a drink, and feeds him completely cliché lines about it all being ok, that everything will be fine when he doesn't know that. He doesn't know it'll all be ok, because there's a good chance it won't be.

It's the first time he's lied and actually felt bad about it.

With that revelation, he has to wonder how many other changes are in store, good or bad.


End file.
